(Newser)
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A tail section from the AirAsia plane that crashed into the Java Sea late last month became the first major wreckage lifted off the ocean floor today, but the all-important black boxes were not found inside. The red metal chunk, with the words "AirAsia" clearly visible across it, was brought to the surface using inflatable balloons. The cockpit voice and flight data recorders, located in the plane's rear, must have detached when the Airbus A320 plummeted into the waters Dec. 28, said Indonesian military commander Gen. Moeldoko. Their recovery is essential to finding out why Flight 8501 crashed.

However, Moeldoko said pings believed to be coming from the black boxes were detected today. Their beacons emit signals for about 30 days until the batteries die, meaning divers have about two weeks left to find them. The debris was brought up from a depth of about 100 feet and towed to a ship, where it was hoisted onto the deck. The vertical stabilizer was still largely intact, but the attached jagged fuselage was ripped open and tangled by a mess of wires. Officials also still need to recover the plane's main fuselage, where most of the 162 victims are believed to be. So far, only 48 corpses have been recovered.

Satellite GPS tracking on mobile devices? Done. Manned mission to Mars? I'm working on it. Finding planes & black boxes?......crickets. I've never fully understood that not knowing all the tech involved in underwater searches. More of an issue with MH370 but what gives? The boxes should be put in a very knowable place in plane ("black-box safe" or whatever) that nothing short of a nuke could fracture it. And finding a plane happened fairly quick this time, so 370 must be who knows where. But really, with tracking tech, no plane (370) or black box?

JoeQ

Jan 10, 2015 10:26 AM CST

For the pieces to be that large, I wonder if the pilot attempted a water landing.

finkster

Jan 10, 2015 9:23 AM CST

Hopefully, they will find the black boxes so they can find out what exactly happened. And recover all the bodies so the families can have some closure.